Smart Phones Gaining With Older Adults

Smartphone handset makers are looking toward emerging markets for growth in no small part because developed countries have quickly become saturated. Fully 56% of Americans now own smartphones, according to a June Pew Research Center report, including about eight-in-ten people in the 18-34 age group.

While younger adults are very likely to own smartphones regardless of income level, the Pew Research report found, among older adults smartphone ownership is more of an “elite” phenomenon in the United States: The devices tend to be quite prevalent at the upper end of the income distribution but much less common among those with lower income levels.